


Smoke and Fire

by casrial



Series: If I Should Die [2]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-19
Updated: 2012-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-29 18:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/322949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casrial/pseuds/casrial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duo and Wufei go to the Winter Ball.  Takes place during Chapter 6 of IISD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smoke and Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Bronze Tigress, for finding the things I didn't. All remaining mistakes are all mine.

"Wait a minute!" Duo jogged to catch up with Wufei. "Wait. Just... wait!"

"I'm waiting." Wufei gave him a dry smile and slowed to a stop.

Duo gratefully paused in front of him, panting. He could feel Wufei's smug eyes watching him. He knew Wufei enjoyed making him suffer. "Just... wait."

Wufei crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Just how long will I be waiting?"

"Bastard." Duo tried not to smile back and shifted the weight of his backpack around. "You... you were serious?"

Wufei's other eyebrow rose. "About waiting?"

Duo rolled his eyes and tried not to sigh. Sighing only egged Wufei on. "About the dance, 'Fei."

Wufei's eyebrows both dropped as Wufei's teasing manner slipped into confusion. "About the dance? What about it?"

Duo took a deep breath and tried not to look as tense as he felt. "Would you go with me? If I asked you?"

Wufei stared back at him in surprise. "Well... are you asking me?"

Duo swallowed. "What would you say if I was?"

The smug was back in Wufei's eyes, and he turned and began walking to the library again, albeit more slowly this time. "Ask and find out."

Duo stared at his back helplessly, making an unhappy noise in the back of his throat. Wufei wore his privacy around him like a cloak, and Duo sometimes felt like they shouldn't be touching in public, or that Wufei would be unhappy with any sort of public display of affection. Wufei certainly never initiated anything unless they were behind closed doors. Grimacing, he rushed to catch up. "Wufei!"

"I have to admit," Wufei said lightly as Duo fell into step, "after all this build up, it'd be disappointing if you didn't ask."

Damn the man. Duo felt the tension drain out of himself and he allowed himself to roll his eyes. "Wufei." He felt his lips go up of their own accord, even as he tried to stop it. "Will you go to the Winter Ball with me?"

Wufei scanned the street signs. "Do I have to wear a dress?"

Duo felt his smile grow, and he turned his head to watch Wufei. "I'd prefer it if you didn't, actually."

Wufei "hmmmed" and glanced at Duo out of the corner of his eye. "Would you be wearing a dress?"

Duo coughed.

* * *

Jordan glanced over from his desk, obviously debating whether or not to ask. Finally, it seemed he couldn't take it anymore. "What are you looking for?"

"I need a suit." Duo pulled open another drawer and began to dig around that, too, pushing aside his spare pants and staring at a sweater.

"...and you think you're going to find one in there?" Jordan's voice was tentative. "What, like magic?"

Duo sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Well, it doesn't hurt to try."

Jordan coughed and tried to balance a pen on its end on his book. "What do you need a suit for, anyway? Job interview?"

"I'm going to the Winter Ball, if you must know," Duo replied loftily, then crammed everything back into his drawers and sat down in his chair. "If I can find something to wear."

"I'd lend you my suit, but the Lucky Lady Linda is going to accompanying me." The pen fell over, and Jordan picked it up to try again. "Besides which, it wouldn't fit you."

"I suppose it's the thought that counts." Duo groaned. "The nicest thing I own is a sweater."

"Wufei knows that," Jordan pointed out, giving up on the pen for the moment and reaching for a new can of cola. "I'm sure he'll forgive you."

Duo froze in his seat, halfway towards turning to his computer monitor, and watched Jordan from his peripheral vision. "How'd you know I was going with Wufei?"

Jordan snorted and popped the tab on his cola. "Of course you're going with Wufei. What do I look like, an idiot?--don't answer that. Anyway, you're practically attached at the hip."

"Oh." Duo blinked and turned to look straight at Jordan. "We are?"

"Aren't you?" Jordan raised his eyebrows in an inquisitive manner and took a sip of his cola.

Grimacing, Duo decided not to get into a battle of the minds with his roommate at that particular moment. "I still need a suit."

"Try Amir down the hall," Jordan said, and turned back to trying to balance a pen on his psych 101 book. "He's got, like, twelve."

* * *

As it turned out, Amir had nine, and was more than happy to lend Duo one--for a price.

"You gotta give me something romantic to say," Amir begged him. "Please, I'll do anything! It's life or death!"

"Uh..." was Duo's only real reply as he tried to lift his leg. It would've worked better if Amir hadn't been clutching it and staring up at him with wide brown eyes. "What context?"

Amir blinked, obviously trying to garner sympathy. "She says I'm not very romantic."

Duo coughed. "Um... Yes. Sounds like you've got a problem." He shook his leg a little, trying to get free. "You know, I'm not very good with women."

Amir gripped his leg harder. "You're just trying to make me feel better!"

Duo shook his leg some more. "Let go of me! Look, did you try poetry?"

Amir frowned and took a deep breath. "Your eyes are like... blue things..."

"Have someone else write it. In fact, try Shakespeare. Chicks love Shakespeare. ...Amir, can I borrow a suit or not?"

"Yes, yes, of course, just find me a poem on the 'net." Amir said, and let go, hurrying to his closet. "Black for you, I think. And definitely a colorful shirt--purple?"

"Uh..." Duo seated himself at Amir's computer and typed "Shakespeare poem" into the search engine. "Sure, I guess."

"Try this on." Amir handed him a jacket, which Duo shrugged into while the page loaded. "Very nice! Where's my poem?"

Duo sighed and clicked a link at random. "There."

"'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?'" Amir, colony born and colony bred, frowned. "...You're sure this'll work, Maxwell?"

"Thanks for the suit, Amir." Duo was already out the door, pants and shirt tucked under his arm, belt trailing behind him. "I'll get it back to you in one piece."

* * *

"Wufei and I are not attached at the hip," Duo announced as he undid the knot in his tie and started over.

Jordan, patting aftershave on his cheeks-while carefully avoiding his sideburns-made a face. "I spare you the details of my romantic entanglements, don't I?"

Duo undid the knot again. "Amy Feder." Tying a tie wasn't all that difficult; he'd done it hundreds of times before, for school or assignment. For some reason, however, the tie Jordan had lent him was refusing to properly knot.

"Touche. But the lovely Ms. Feder was an exception to the rule." He worked a bit of mousse into his hair and carefully followed the edge of his bangs with a comb, perfecting the flip.

Duo untied the tie and began again. "Amy was your exception. Wufei is mine."

"But that's hardly fair. You've only really seen one person this semester." Jordan glanced at Duo in the mirror, over his shoulder. "And cut that out, you're making me dizzy."

"I've seen lots of people this semester," Duo protested, and caved under Jordan's skeptical look. "Just, not more than once. Besides, you're assuming I'm even interested in giving you details." Duo worked the knot free again. "This tie is broken."

"Give." Jordan brought the tie around his own neck and quickly tied a half-Windsor before loosening it, pulling it over his head, and throwing it back to Duo. "What are you so nervous about? It's not like it's your first date."

"I'm not nervous! I'm just a little..." Duo toyed with the tie for a minute before pulling it over his head and tightening the knot. "...nervous."

Jordan rolled his eyes and gave the flip in his bangs one more tweak. "Yes, thank you for clearing that up for us. How's my hair?"

"I don't know, it's doing some weird flipping thing in the front."

Jordan gave him the finger.

* * *

Somehow, Duo didn't expect Wufei's white sports jacket, white slacks, and black silk shirt. Wufei looked good in black and white--Duo never doubted it before, and now wasn't exactly a time to start--and wore the colors proudly.

"I'm impressed," Wufei said when Duo met him in the hallway, eyebrow eloquently raised. "I didn't expect you to own anything presentable."

"I'm extremely presentable." Duo executed a swaggering bow. "Who'd you want to present me to?"

"No one in particular. I'm just impressed." He gallantly extended his arm to Duo, who took it with an affect air of amused dignity.

"Where'd you get your suit from?" Duo looked over the edge of the sleeve, admiring the fit. "Don't tell me you already owned it?"

"Every man needs one good suit, for interviews and the like. Even poor scholarship brats like me." Wufei ran a hand over Duo's tie. "I'm impressed, I have to say. Your tie is amazing. So exquisitely tied!"

Duo cast a suspicious sidelong glance at his date for the evening. "...You met Jordan in the hall, didn't you?"

Wufei's innocent expression told him he was right on target. "Jordan? You mean your roommate?"

Duo's suspicion grew. "How many Jordans do you know?" At the elevator, he let Wufei reach out and push the button.

"Just the one." Wufei's smile was charming, and Duo felt himself being charmed.

"Well, then..." he said, amused despite himself. "Stop giving me a hard time!"

The elevator doors opened. "You'd rather I give you a soft time?" Wufei asked, eyebrow raised in coy regard.

Duo shut his mouth, allowing Wufei the point with as much grace as he could muster mostly because he couldn't believe Wufei had just said it. "Um... no." Wufei grinned, and Duo had the feeling he'd been played. "If you wanted to go to the dance, you could've just said so in the first place," he pointed out.

"Ahh." Wufei nodded. "The romance is dead."

* * *

Since Tienen's heating system had been fixed, the Winter Ball was less of a theme than the planners had obviously intended. Women wore short dresses, and men wore short-sleeve shirts. Wufei sniffed in obvious disdain, while Duo glanced at the shorter sleeves with a hint of jealousy. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers. He supposed he was lucky to have gotten a suit at all.

Duo hovered awkwardly next to Wufei, feeling oddly as if he was back on a mission. Dressed up as he was, surrounded by people who were essentially children playing dress-up at a school function, he found himself cataloging the various students and teachers according to threat-level. Two professors and five students had him itching for a gun or a couple knives, though he had put in enough hours of hand-to-hand with Heero and various Oz cronies that he was not completely lost in the water. He sized up a guy he vaguely remembered possibly fighting at the beginning of the semester and gave him The Eye until the guy turned away with his date. And either the guy had broken up with his girlfriend and picked up a new woman, or Duo had overestimated her attractiveness to begin with.

Wufei poked him in the side, and he got a sudden flash of coldmetal fireflash screamscreamscream before he caught Wufei's elbow and gently moved it back to his side. "Don't do that," he said, and sounded a little out of breath to himself.

"Sorry," Wufei said, puzzled, and shook his arm to loosen Duo's grip. "You looked distracted." His voice phrased it like a question, and Duo knew he wasn't asking about the couple across the room.

Duo shook himself and ran a hand through his short hair. "Want some punch?"

Wufei gallantly held his arm out to Duo, and Duo gladly took it to let the topic die.

They sat at a table on the edge of the room, nursing watered-down orange punch and rating their fellow students based on the sluttiness of their attire. "I give her a five," Duo said, gesturing to a woman whose breasts were popping out of a grey sequined dress.

"Don't be ridiculous," Wufei rejoined. "She's obviously a seven. Two for the hemline, three for the neckline, one for the way her necklace hangs right between her breasts, and one for her hooker shoes."

Duo set his cup down. "You're assigning points based on attributes of the dress?"

"Well, if you aren't going to be scientific about it, there's really no point in scoring them, is there?" Wufei looked genuinely puzzled, and Duo had to laugh.

"What about point deductions for the fact that it's not attractive?" Duo asked. "We're talking sluttiness, not amount of skin."

"Beauty doesn't matter," Wufei argued. "And it isn't about the amount of skin, it's about the different cuts. For instance, green dress, three o'clock. There's skin showing, but it's classy, not slutty."

Duo followed Wufei's gaze to the woman in the green dress. The back cut low, all the way to just above her ass, and the fingers of the woman she was dancing with trailed up and down along her spine as they danced. "Wufei," Duo said, "That is definitely slutty."

"All the important parts are appropriately covered," Wufei insisted.

"You and I have far different ideas on what is considered an 'important part.'" Duo said with a smirk. "Also, the slit up the side of her dress goes almost to the head of her femur. I'm pretty sure I can see where it fits into her acetabulum. Lucky acetabulum."

Wufei laughed and flicked an ice cube at him. "You're disgusting."

Duo caught the ice cube in his mouth deftly. He never passed up an opportunity to show off the hours of practice he put into catching food with his mouth. He watched the two women dancing with their pretty, inappropriate dresses and fancy hair-does. "You know, they're the first same-sex couple I've seen here." He slid his eyes to Wufei. "Aside from us."

"It's L-4." Wufei shrugged. "There's a larger gay community here than you might think. They just have separate events."

"The chaperones are not happy." Duo watched the chaperones cluck nervously to each other as they watched the two women dance.

"Let's give them some more to be unhappy about," Wufei said grandly, and held his hand out to Duo. "Shall we dance?"

Duo abandoned his empty glass on the table and accepted Wufei's hand up. "We shall."

They worked their way to the dance floor hand-in-hand, then struggled to agree on hand holds. They finally compromised with Wufei's hands awkwardly resting on Duo's hips, while Duo let his arms drape on Wufei's shoulders.

"I actually never took dance lessons," Wufei interrupted after a moment of swaying.

"My experience is solely ballroom," Duo said. "And jive." He shimmied his hips in example and hoped Wufei would never ask him to demonstrate jive.

Four songs later, they finally started to feel relaxed. Although the dance chaperones continued to wring their hands in discomfort, the majority of the other students at the Ball didn't appear to care. Duo chanced a wink at one of the lesbians; she rolled her eyes and swept her partner across the dance floor away from them. "So much for gay solidarity," he muttered.

"I don't recognize any of these bands," Wufei muttered back. "Apparently, living on a backwards colony and then on a space station on the far reaches of the system keeps me from being hip to culture."

Duo laughed and spun Wufei around. "I promise to introduce you to the musical stylings of Shannia. And the Rock Scissor Boys. And Steampunk Hyperdrive."

"Why don't band names make any sense?" Wufei asked. "It's like they string random words together. 'Cheesesteak Evergreen.' 'Pulpy Lawnchair.'"

"Hmm, yes, I think you found your calling." Duo reeled Wufei in closer as a slower song came on. Wufei laid his head on Duo's shoulder, relaxing in the lowered lights, and Duo tipped his forehead to rest on Wufei's hair. The feel of Wufei's strong, lean body against his, the smell of his shampoo, the vague mustiness of his suit filled Duo's senses. As long as people stayed outside a four-foot radius, he could focus all his attention on the man in his arms. Even Wufei seemed more relaxed, and Duo was glad he'd borrowed a little of Jordan's cologne and taken the time to shave. Duo let his hands stroke down Wufei's back and settle, one at the small of his back, the other up higher; his thumbs traced circles along Wufei's spine, almost without his permission.

He didn't realize his eyes were closed until Wufei's head shifted under his cheek, soft breath brushing against his nose, and the barest brush of dry lips against his. One of Wufei's hands gently held Duo's head in place, fingers resting gently on his. He breathed in Wufei, heart racing, and Wufei settled his head back on Duo's shoulder.

Duo realized they were having their second ever public display of affection in front of a fairly significant portion of the student body. Wufei rubbed Duo's hip gently, and the heat of Wufei's breath warmed Duo's shoulder.

Five songs later, Duo felt like he'd never get enough of Wufei's scent, his musky aftershave not quite covering his own unique, clean scent. Duo laughed as Wufei spun him, and he threw in a few moves of his own that he learned back on L-2 as a child. Wufei laughed in disbelief, and Duo himself almost couldn't believe he could still move his hips like that. It was two hours into the dance, and Duo felt the weight of the chaperones' stares, the weight of the press of the other students, and he still didn't understand why, after being obviously with Wufei, two of the soccer players were still giving him looks like he'd been sending sultry winks to their definitely-slutty dates. The dark-haired slutty girl fluttered her fingers in his general direction, and Duo wondered if maybe he screwed her at some point.

Duo grinned at Wufei. Wufei was beautiful--Duo never thought he'd use that word to describe a man, but the sight of Wufei laughing as he attempted to dance to the music, his dark, dark eyes, the way his hair flowed as he moved, what else could Wufei be but breathtakingly lovely? Duo eyed the curve of Wufei's lip, the stretch of his neck, and was so, so grateful for Wufei in his life. He felt things long-sleeping stir deep down, and he subtly positioned himself between Wufei and the soccer players, just in case. Wufei could probably take them in a fight, but Duo fought dirty.

"Are you ready to leave?" Wufei asked, voice breathy.

"Yeah," Duo responded, and licked his lips. Wufei's eyes followed the motion, and Duo felt a genuine smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

They got some more punch first, of course. They couldn't go to the Winter Ball and not drink the Winter Punch. Duo barely tasted it.

* * *

The walk back to the dormitory seemed to take forever. Without the brisk chill of the failing heating system, they had no reason to huddle together for warmth while walking. By the time they got to the dorms, Duo had loosened his tie a few times to help relieve some of the heat. They stood in the hallway between their two doors, carefully not touching, and Duo wracked his brain for reasons to invite Wufei in that weren't "so I can press you against the wall and kiss you like you don't want to be kissed in the middle of the hall."

"Want to see my shoes?" he said, and of all the ideas he had come up with he couldn't believe he'd said that one.

Wufei raised his eyebrows in amusement and confusion. "Your shoes?"

Duo unlocked his door and held it open for Wufei. "Yeah."

Wufei's amusement unfolded into a full-fledged grin. "Sure."

Duo waited until the door was completely closed before he grabbed Wufei by the lapels and pressed him to the door of Jordan's closet. "On second thought, I think you've seen all my shoes."

Wufei wasn't laughing anymore. From this far away, Duo could see his eyes darken, and his tongue dart out to moisten his lips. Duo leaned into Wufei and pressed their lips together. He could feel Wufei's hands on his hips, like they were dancing again, and the heat of his body and the cool of the wall behind them, and Duo licked Wufei's mouth open, deepened the kiss, and Wufei's hands were tugging at his shirt, his own hands working at the buttons up Wufei's front.

"I hate to ruin such a well-tied tie," Wufei said as his fingers tugged at Duo's tie.

"If you bring up my roommate again," Duo said into Wufei's neck, and didn't bother to finish the statement when Wufei started laughing. The laugh broke off quickly enough when he slipped his hands into the dress shirt and felt Wufei's hot skin, the texture of his hidden scars, the sharp poke of his nipples. Duo nipped Wufei's collarbone, pulled Wufei's tie all the way off, and licked a stripe across Wufei's sternum. Wufei was pushing Duo's shirt over his arms, tugging at his wrists to get the sleeves over his hands. Duo toed his shoes off--his usual sneakers, since he had no dress shoes--and unzipped his own pants.

"Oh god, Duo," Wufei murmured, and Duo could hear him scuffling to get his own shoes off. Duo caught a glimpse of Wufei's face and stopped him in the mad dash for his pants. Wufei's mouth tasted of spices and Winter Punch and Wufei, and Duo thought maybe he could never get enough of the slick glide of Wufei's tongue, the heat pooling in the few spaces between their bodies. Wufei shuddered when Duo reached down into his pants and curled his hand around him; Wufei shuddered and Duo felt a sudden, overwhelming need to make that shudder happen again. He slid down Wufei's body, fumbled his white pants and underwear down to his knees, and tried to remember every blow job he'd ever been given.

"You don't have to," Wufei stuttered, voice desperate, and Duo grinned.

"You saying you'd rather play poker?" He breathed the words onto Wufei's skin, let his fingers trail over Wufei.

Wufei groaned, his fingers smoothing through Duo's hair. "Never mind, now you have to."

Duo bowed his neck, wished he'd thought to put something under his knees, and leaned in to taste. With Wufei keening under him, his own hard-on bumping Wufei's leg, the musky taste of Wufei on his tongue, he felt wild and free and more himself than ever before.

* * *

The end of the night found them lying on Duo's bed, naked but for Wufei's open button-down shirt. Duo stroked up and down Wufei's spine, feeling sated and satisfied in a way he hadn't for quite some time. He wondered if Wufei would be willing to dance with him at the wedding--would he let him press up close, kiss him? Just because he'd told Relena he'd go didn't mean they actually had to go to the wedding. He resolved to ask Wufei tomorrow. Contentment filled him as Wufei, mostly-asleep, pressed absent, dry kisses to his neck. Like this, with Wu in his arms, the smell of Wu on his skin, he felt invincible.

"Nice shoes," Wufei murmured softly.

"I'm rather fond of them," Duo said into Wufei's hair. Wufei was already asleep.


End file.
